When Adela Licona asked her friends to send her photos of them as children, the purpose was beyond collecting old memories. The University of Arizona associate professor of English has built the photos into a project about the separation of children and their families at the United States-Mexico border.

On Friday, Licona will speak as part of the Syracuse Symposium in Maxwell Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. Her keynote will discuss her project, “TENDER R/AGE:: RABIA TIERNA” which addresses the U.S.-Mexico border and the “injustices and human rights violations” that have occurred there, recently.

Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and a professor of women’s and gender studies, said Licona’s speech is part of the this year’s Symposium’s theme, “Stories.” May said the keynote speeches are lined up a year in advance — and Licona was not originally on the list.

“But then the world takes place in between,” May said.

May’s plans shifted after “the summer happened,” she said, in reference to children and families being separated at the southern border and children dying there. She thought it was necessary to discuss complicated political issues such as migrant rights, refugee rights and immigration.

May said Licona was the best person to have this conversation with Syracuse University.

“Whether we’re citizens or not, we’re in this space, of this country, I think we need to think about what the government is doing in our name of citizens,” May said.

In her speech, Licona will discuss how her project aims to communicate that “we are all living in the shadow of the cages that have held, and are holding, children separated from their parents or guardians at and well beyond the border,” she said in an email.

Her work “TENDER R/AGE” is a play on “Tender Age” — the name the federal government gave to the facilities that held children detained at the southern border.

Licona’s work involves cutouts of children blown up to life size, which May used to highlight children’s faces, since people don’t usually see the children who are detained.

While these pictures aren’t of children who have been detained at the southern border, the images are used to connect art to the issue. Licona calls it a “participatory project,” inspired by people she’s met and who are using “their own tender hearts and bright minds in the service of social justice.”

In what Licona describes as her “call to action,” she plans to create dialogue about the modern injustices of immigration in the U.S. To her, college campuses are the perfect places to discuss human rights violations — she has also explored how this topic relates to the Syracuse community.

“I am very interested in the ways local communities are being allies to migrants and asylum seekers, and hope to learn from people in local Syracuse communities about their local efforts and concerns,” she said.

May agrees that the topic is closely related to Syracuse. She said that, while Syracuse is far from the southern border, it’s in the 100-mile northern border zone where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can question people’s citizenship.

ICE frequently conducts farm raids in Syracuse and people have no idea, May said. She added that most people only think about the southern border and not how immigration affects their own communities.

“If we dig a little bit and care to know our histories of our families, and our neighbors, and our teachers and our friends, it’s a lot more widespread than people recognize,” May said. She added that the purpose of the Symposium is to engage the public in thinking about why the humanities are essential.

Theo Cateforis, an associate professor of music history and cultures, echoed this statement. He hosted and moderated a conversation with Anthony DeCurtis, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, on Feb. 19 in Bird Library.

Cateforis said the best part of the symposium is its diversity.

“It’s not aimed at one specific audience, there’s enough events of different character type that really reflects the diversity of the campus,” he said.

Licona will also host a workshop Friday in Tolley Humanities Building entitled, “RELATE: A Workshop on Engaged Scholarship,” which starts at 10 a.m.

Published on February 20, 2019 at 9:32 pm

Contact Sarah: srslavin@syr.edu